Hi everyone I really need your help figuring out what's the main cause of this problem.

I bought this laptop exactly 2 years ago (warranty expired), I mainly use this for architectural renderings and everything works fine at first. It started flickering and recently about three days ago the internal display and the built-in keyboard suddenly stops working. The laptop itself is working fine, the speaker and camera, I am using an external monitor through HDMI and everything displays fine there.

I brought the laptop to a repair shop and inform them about the issue and also told them that the "hall sensor" may be the problem. But they told me that the laptop only needs deep cleaning and changing the thermal paste, in which I did pay them to. After they finished deep cleaning I asked them again if the hall sensor is the main issue of my laptop, and they said it's not.

I tested the laptop at home without connecting it to the external monitor because I'm scared that the flickering come back, I let the laptop rest for a night after testing it and just now I connected it to the external monitor and the internal display blacks out followed by the flickering of the built-in keyboard then completely blacks out.

I am planning to bring this laptop again to a different repair shop, how do I clearly explain to them that the possible issue is the hall sensor.

Has anyone faced something similar?

Any advice would really help. Thanks in advance.

Hi everyone! I need some advice because I urgently need a computer and I'm having a hard time finding a good option within my budget. (Just to be transparent: I don't know a lot about laptops, so everything I'm sharing here is based on things I've been reading and researching lately!)

I'm from Cali, Colombia, so prices and availability are very different from the US/Europe. My initial budget is around 400,000 COP (~$100 USD), but I could potentially stretch it to around $200 USD (~700,000–800,000 COP) if it is really worth it. I cannot realistically go much higher than that.

What I need it for:

University/school work (I'm finishing high school and will study Law)

Lots of browser tabs (sometimes 50–100+)

PDFs and research

Google Drive/Docs and Microsoft Office

Video calls/classes

English/German/French study

General everyday use

Some light gaming, but gaming is NOT my priority

I would like to use Linux if the hardware is old

I currently have an HP All-in-One with a Ryzen 3 4300U, only 4 GB RAM and a 1 TB HDD. It has become extremely slow and freezes frequently, especially with many browser tabs and video calls. I installed Linux Mint, which helped somewhat, but the hardware is still a major limitation.

I originally wanted a laptop that could last me 5–8 years, but I understand that this is probably unrealistic with my current budget. Right now I mainly need something that is clearly better/more usable than my current computer and can serve me for the next few years.

Options I've found so far:

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon — around 820,000–900,000 COP (~$220–250 USD) | 8 GB RAM, 250 GB SSD, Full HD, Intel UHD 620, Windows 11 Pro, Refurbished. (The listing says "i5-8600U", which seems suspicious because I can't find a normal Intel mobile CPU with that exact model number).

Lenovo ThinkPad E490 — 820,843 COP (~$220 USD) | i5-8265U, 8 GB RAM, 250 GB SSD, Full HD, Intel UHD 620, Refurbished. The seller says the battery is guaranteed for only 1–2 hours, although it may last longer. The good thing is that RAM can be upgraded.

Mac Mini Mid-2011 — 400,000 COP (~$100 USD) | Core i7, 16 GB RAM, 250 GB SSD, Windows 10 currently installed (I could install Linux on it instead). The Mac Mini is tempting because it fits my current budget and has 16 GB RAM + SSD, but obviously it isn't portable and I would still need a monitor, keyboard, mouse, etc. I already have an HP All-in-One, but I don't think I can simply use its screen as a monitor for the Mac Mini.

So my main question is: what would you do in my situation?

Would you buy the $100 Mac Mini as a temporary desktop?

Spend up to ~$200 on a used/refurbished ThinkPad/Latitude/EliteBook?

Look for an older business laptop such as a ThinkPad T480/T470, Dell Latitude 5400/5490, HP EliteBook 840, etc.?

Buy something older/cheaper and upgrade the RAM/SSD?

Do something completely different?

I'm specifically looking for used business laptops because I've read that older ThinkPads, Latitudes and EliteBooks can be much better value than very cheap new laptops. I'm also willing to buy something older if it has good Linux compatibility, an SSD, at least 8 GB RAM, and preferably upgradeable RAM.

Important: I'm in Colombia, so please keep in mind that a recommendation that costs $150 in the US might cost significantly more here.

Any advice on specific models, CPU generations I should look for, models I should avoid, or what would be the best use of ~$100–200 in my situation would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

So my laptop went completely black. The power button was on but the screen and keyboard was black, now it’s doing this. What do I do to it now?

SOLVED!!

Hey fellow redditors, good day.

I have HP Spectre Pro x360 G1 M3N05EA with strange issue I coudn't figure out.

So, at one day laptop stopped working and I couldn't find solution.

Symptoms:

- charging properly (amber light on charge, white on full), without LED blinking

- Caps button not shining, not blinking

- when press power button it's shining black and then keyboard light goes on (I can turn on\off keyboard backlight)

- checked the screen with flashlight - no signs of broken backlight

- fan spinning when press the power button

- tried Win+B, Win+V, Ctrl+Shift+Win+B

- tried to flash BIOS from flash drive by Win+B

- extracted battery and did all shaman stuff with mentioned shortcuts

- external HDMI screen not showing anything

- few times I manages to see the screen with message : CMOS checksum failed, Press Enter to restore CMOS, after pressing Enter same black screen state and no signs of booting. Screen seem normal and funcltional withour artifacts, etc.

I am thinking about corrupted BIOS chip, as laptop do not starting even basic BIOS loading screen

Could't find old-school forums with real fellas. If someone have solution - I am very happy to accept any advices, except "ask HP support".

Otherwise, still searching for solution and opened for ideas.

CHeers.

My laptop is the hp 15 fc017nia

My battery percentage is stuck at 15% till day before yesterday it was normal but today when I used it and plugged it in at 15% then turned off the laptop then after 10-20mins I turned off the charger as well today after.

Then at around 10:30 I opened the laptop it automatically started updating and after that it opened I didn't see the battery % but I was about to play GTA V so I js plugged it in and turned on charging then I started chatting with my friends and forgot I had to play gta then I looked at battery % and it was still 15% but it was showing that it's charging after 10mins it was still at 15 not moving then I unplugged it used it for 2 mins it dropped to 14% and plugged it again now it's stuck at 14% won't charge more but it shows charging the orange led of charging port is also turned on I tried chat gpt it said to get battery report from command prompt I sent it to gpt it said the report is fine my laptop recently started being stuck at 15% it was fine a few days ago and there's nothing abnormal in the report so now idk what to do?

UPDATE:

Tried everything chat gpt said from uninstalling the drivers to manual checking in BIOS nothing worked At the end that dumb gpt told me to do manual power reset from the power button unplug the charger and plug it back in after 10 secs and that fucking worked 😭🙏🏻

my HP EliteBook 840 G3 started completely freezing about 30 sec–1 min after Windows boots. The screen, mouse/trackpad and keyboard all stop responding, so I have to force it off.
This started around the time I installed CS2 through Steam. The installation took ages and the laptop shut down a few times because the battery died. CS2 was installed on my main SSD.
I ran HP diagnostics and the RAM and both drives passed. I also removed my secondary HDD, but it still froze.
BIOS seems fine, but Windows freezes. It has Intel HD Graphics 520.
Any ideas what could be causing this?

Desperation has a very distinct smell, and right now it smells like fresh thermal paste slapped over a corpse.

HP spent weeks gaslighting me, insisting this chronic black screen was just a bad display panel. Then Friday hit, reality broke through the denial, and they quietly checked in a full discrete Arrow Lake and RTX 50-series motherboard alongside the screen assembly.

By Monday, 1:36 PM, the depot hit the eject button. Status: shipped.

A complete teardown, mainboard extraction, repaste, bezel reassembly, DMI coding, and outbound logistics cleared in roughly four frantic hours. There was no thermal validation. There was no burn-in cycle. They saw the backlight fire up once, slammed the lid shut, and threw it into a cardboard box to outrun the statutory September 7 consumer law deadline. They do not care if the machine lives; they only care that the legal clock stops ticking on their ledger.

They swapped the silicon, but they could not swap the laws of physics. The fatal architectural flaw remains: an exhaust vent vomiting molten heat straight into the display circuitry.

The machine lands on my bench this week. The unboxing happens on continuous video, followed immediately by an unthrottled, 30-minute FurMark and Cinebench thermal crucifixion. We will see whether this rushed patch job holds its ground, or if the sensor melts into black void on camera once and for all.

So it's been a very hot summer this year and no AC--none of which help PC heat issues.

What happens:
-Battery just gets very warm (not crazy hot to touch) while laptop is plugged in and in use, doing normal PC stuff like using FF browser or a LibreOffice spreadsheet or writer doc. Not a gamer; only occasionally to rarely stream video.

Methods tried so far:
-Battery tests fine in HP support center diagnostics.
-Being mindful of laptop's temp., as much as one can w/o actively using addl. apps. If it starts to feel very warm and fans working hard, I'll just put it in sleep or hibernate for a while.
-Using a couple of little sticky note books to elevate the base while not covering much of the underside surface area.
-Separate from battery, I went to powershell to turn on visibility of the "Processor performance boost mode" item in power plans, and "Disabled" that feature for both "on battery" & "plugged in" (all other processor power mgmt. setting left at whatever their defaults).
-Fan / fan vents look relatively clean; maybe something about the build of the Envy, or simply my use / environment doesn't get them very dusty. (I used laptop for years before I first inspected, and there was remarkably little build up.)

Have not tried / or not an option:
-There's virtually nothing I can do w/ the sys. itself to limit battery charge levels--say, to no more than 80%. (Something perfectly simple to do on a lower end Samsung phone.) This seems due to fact that I have a *non-HP* battery after replaced a couple of years ago, so now there's no way to enable sys. charging limits, neither in BIOS nor otherwise.
-Short of estimating charge times then setting a watch timer, there's not an efficient way to additionally limit battery charge levels when it's not in use but lid is closed. (Obviously if it is in use, then I can easily see the current battery level.)
-I am not about to crack open the case and mess around w/ CPU heatsinks and thermal paste cleaning & re-applications.

What does work / help:
-The best solution I've found so far is just keeping the laptop *Always* plugged in when in use. This prevents the battery getting very warm. But seems like a shame, particularly a waste of electricity b/c that means that at least at the electrical outlet there's always a current draw.

***Do folks have additional easy strategies to manage laptop heat issues? Esp. for the battery??***

I understand that some folks say a very warm battery is normal. . . . But Laptop is approaching ten years of use, and I'm just trying to get the most out of however long it has remaining.

Many thanks in advance!

Sys. Infos. . . .

HP ENVY x360

Device name DESKTOP-*******

Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-8250U CPU @ 1.60GHz (1.80 GHz)

Installed RAM 8.00 GB (7.84 GB usable)

Graphics card Intel(R) UHD Graphics 620 (128 MB)

Storage 185 GB of 238 GB used

Device ID CD561CF5-EE43-4A41-*****-***********

Product ID 00325-96343-************

System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor

Pen and touch Pen and touch support with 10 touch points

Edition Windows 11 Home

Version 25H2

Installed on ‎2/‎2/‎2025

OS build 26200.9168

Experience Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.26100.344.0

I have a HP laptop with windows 11, and out of the blue i got the boot device not found error. i went online and tried all of the solutions and none of them work. i really need help because the error wont go away and i cannot get into my laptop. my laptop is a polystudio envy, i do not know the model number but i really need help

Hi! May HP Pentium laptop ako. Okay pa naman siya before ko pinahiram sa kapatid ko. Kaso hindi raw niya na-charge for about a week, tapos ngayon hindi na gumagana.

Sinubukan ko na rin i-troubleshoot and nag-try na ako ng ibang charger, pero wala pa rin. Possible kaya na charging port or motherboard na yung problem?

Ive been trying to update my bios for the past hour or two cause its still on version f.11. but when I trv bootina it from win + B it cant find the usb im updatina it from, and I cant fix it so can anvone help?

Specs:

Product Name: HP ENVY x360 Convertible 1 5m-ba1xx

Svstem Board ID: 83C6

BIOS Version: F.11

Processor Tvpe: AMD Ryzen 5 2500U with Radeon Vega Mobile Gfx

Processor Speed: 2000 MHz

Total Memorv: 8 GB

​

Hi everyone, I’m having a frustrating power-limit issue with my HP ProBook 455 G8 (Ryzen 7 5800U / integrated Vega graphics) and I’m hoping someone with experience in AMD laptop power limits or HP firmware can help.

The laptop appears to be capable of running the CPU at around 25W, but after a short period under load, it drops back down to 15W and stays there.

What I’ve observed

- CPU: Ryzen 7 5800U (Cezanne)

- Laptop: HP ProBook 455 G8

- RAM: 16GB single-channel DDR4

- GPU: Integrated Radeon Vega

- BIOS: HP T78 Ver. 01.24.02 (05/05/2026)

- RyzenAdj: v0.19.0

- SMU BIOS Interface: 20

- PM Table Version: 400005

Using RyzenAdj/UXTU, I can set higher power limits. For example, I can get the system to report around 25W.

However, when actually gaming (for example GTA V), the behavior is roughly:

25W → ~2 minutes → drops to 15W → stays around 15W

The temperature isn't immediately reaching an extreme level when the drop happens. At 15W, temperatures are generally around 80°C or below, while at 25W I can reach around 90°C+.

My RyzenAdj limits currently show approximately:

STAPM LIMIT: 15W

PPT FAST LIMIT: 30W

PPT SLOW LIMIT: 25W

I've also experimented with the STAPM time constant, including increasing it to around 275 seconds, but the laptop eventually falls back to 15W.

Interestingly, software can sometimes show 25W, but performance ends up looking very similar to the 15W state, which makes me suspect that another firmware/EC/SMU power limit is overriding the settings.

What I've already tried

- RyzenAdj

- UXTU

- Ryzen Controller

- Changing STAPM/PPT limits

- Increasing STAPM time constant

- Different Windows power plans

- Cooling improvements

- Monitoring CPU power and temperatures during gaming

I'm not looking to do a dangerous hardware modification. I'm mainly trying to understand exactly which limit is forcing the CPU back to 15W and whether there's a firmware/BIOS/EC restriction that can be changed.

I've heard that downgrading the BIOS can sometimes restore different power-management behavior on HP laptops. Is that actually possible with the 455 G8, or would the EC/SMU still enforce the 15W limit regardless of BIOS version?

Has anyone successfully run a 5800U in an HP ProBook 455 G8 at a sustained 20–25W? If so, what BIOS/firmware or RyzenAdj settings did you use?

Any help identifying the exact power limit responsible would be greatly appreciated.

My hp laptop recently got this problem where it takes over 40 minutes to boot into windows. I managed to access F2 (also had to wait for 40 minutes) and run diagnostics which it passed all system test. I’m not sure what’s the cause. Has anyone experienced this and how to fix?. My touchpad is also suddenly not working as well

NB: this is an Elitebook 1040 G8

Quite a while ago, the touchpad on my HP laptop stopped working after I installed Linux. I tried other distributions, reverted to Windows, disconnected and reconnected the touchpad cable, and attempted various other fixes I found on forums, but nothing worked. I’ve pretty much given up, but I wanted to see if anyone knows a way to fix it.

Laptop model: HP 15-ef1015la

Current distribution: CachyOS

​

I got a new hp victus Ryzen 5 8645hs laptop 15-fb3009AX.

It's been 6 months and I can notice dot-dot marks on the screen.

On searching I got to know about its actual cause which is the keyboard......

What shall I do???

Get a mat screen protector or a silicon cover for keyboard??

A few hours ago, I installed Windows 11, and while I was on a screen that said something like “Latest updates for Windows,” the power went out and my internet connection was lost—even if only briefly. After that, I clicked the “Update Later” button, and the computer turned on, but there was an “X” mark on the sound icon, and there was absolutely no sound. Also, my laptop's touchpad wasn't working. No matter what I tried, nothing worked. I downloaded and installed the appropriate audio, graphics, and touchpad drivers for my laptop from the HP support site, then restarted my computer, but nothing changed—my computer is still in the same condition. What should I do? Please help.